Sun, Nov 22 2009
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Partnership for economic prosperity By CARL E. FEATHER - Lifestyle Editor - cfeather@starbeacon.comStar Beacon Mayernick says each trustee contributes $5,000 annually because he or she wants to create “a better community.”
“They are getting nothing more than that,” he says. “They get reports and attend the trustee meetings, but there’s no direct benefit.” There were 65 trustees in 2007, which would have generated $325,000 in revenue if all trustees paid their fees. According to the organization’s 2005 Form 990 filing, about 80 percent of this money went for salaries, not including those employees paid through Infinity Resources. David French, a GP trustee and past president, says employees who want health insurance and who are in a probation period must go through the staffing services. Who’s who The trustee list of Growth Partnership reads like a Who’s Who of Ashtabula County (A complete list is at www.ashtabulagrowth.com). GP’s members include the cities of Ashtabula, Conneaut and Geneva, plus the villages of Orwell and Andover, and the Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners, which, according to Mayernick’s letter to Bottoms, pays $15,000 annually. Ashtabula County Commissioner Deborah Newcomb says a trustee serves on the group’s executive committee and attends that committee’s monthly meeting so county commissioners can review projects. GP also works with commissioners on tax abatement issues. “That’s why we work so closely with them. If they need to offer incentives, they want to know upfront if it is something we can do. That’s why we are at the table,” says Newcomb. Mackey says one of the distinct advantages of the partnership is that it allows negotiations with interested parties to be conducted outside public scrutiny. If economic development were a function of government, those negotiations could be subject to Sunshine Law regulations. “One of the great things about the partnership is the ability to have people deal in confidence of privacy,” he says. “That’s why the Growth Partnership was organized: People could deal in confidence.” Mayernick states that only 13 percent ($45,000) of the total trustee-generated funding comes from the public sector and 8 percent of the group’s total funding is public. Mayernick says GP’s services are offered to any party that requests them, without regard to membership. For example, Orwell’s KraftMaid, one of the GP’s success stories, is not a member. Both private and public trustees give the organization high marks for what GP has accomplished in the county, despite a per capita personal-income level that’s the lowest in the lakeshore region. Trustees says per capita income is rising, and it’s a process that must be given time. “The Growth Partnership is an important part of raising the wages, the per capita here,” says Rick Coblitz, whose business, A. Louis Supply, is a member. “They are trying to bring in better-paying industries. In the beginning, it was anything we could get in here to provide a job. But in more recent years, they have been trying to bring in better-paying ones.” Rick Selip, president of Grand River Rubber and a trustee, says the organization’s mission has evolved. “They have gone from a crisis mode to a reaction mode and are now going into the creative mode,” Selip says. Members of the organization give the group high marks for cooperation and expertise, living up to its claim of being a one-stop shop that can help entrepreneurs cut through municipal, county and state red tape. 
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